'Ritchie showed he is a long way from done at highest level'

The accepted wisdom was that three wins from four Autumn Nations Series matches would equal success for Scotland and help us all reinforce our habitual and mostly misplaced hope for the forthcoming Six Nations.

Job done then, but what impact did the 23 Edinburgh players wearing the thistle have?

In terms of pure quantifiable effect it's hard to see past Darcy Graham and Duhan van der Merwe. They both played three full games and contributed seven tries between them. Van der Merwe topped the tables for defenders beaten in all the games he played.

Jamie Ritchie was being written off as an international player, but shone against Australia. He was Scotland's top tackler and led the jackling efforts too. It was a player of the match performance for me and he showed he is a long way from being done at the highest level.

Grant Gilchrist also continues to display a phenomenal work rate, especially defensively. He played three games and only got a rest in the last eight minutes against Australia.

Another notable was Tom Dodd scoring for Scotland A against Chile. Firstly because I didn’t even realise he was Scotland-qualified and secondly because his effort to be available for the offload by Ben Afshar after the scrum half's break from within his own half was exceptional.

Freddie Douglas has a big future and did himself no harm with a cameo against Portugal when he impressed without even getting his hands on the ball. He then put in a well deserved man of the match display against Chile.

Success on the international front can be a two-edged sword. Edinburgh have brought back Damien Hoyland on a short-term deal, presumably to cover for the rest periods our star wingers will now get.

In a separate but linked issue, Sean Everitt will also have to weigh up how he integrates Freddie Douglas into the matchday 23 because if he doesn't and we continue to flounder, the criticism of him may reach terminal velocity.

Sandy Smith can be found at The Burgh Watch.